Louisiana Law Enforcement Already Dealing With Released Criminals

The Caddo Parish Sheriff is probably thinking, "I told you so", after one of the criminals released under provisions in Louisiana's new justice reform was jailed again for robbery.

Tyrone White was arrested for armed robbery in Kenner just five days after being released from jail. Kenner Police Chief Michael Glaser reports that Kenner approached two men who were working on the roof of a home and brandished what the workers believed was a real gun. The man on the ground was robbed, and the only reason the other worker was not robbed is because he left his wallet on the roof before he climbed down from atop it.

White is well known to police in the Kenner area. He is an habitual offender who has been arrested over 50 times for burglary. Prior to his release he was serving a 12-year sentence after pleading guilty to four counts of simple burglary in 2014. Residents in the neighborhood where the robbery occurred led police to the house where White was found and arrested. A gun was recovered from the home and White is now in jail facing charges of robbery and attempted armed robbery.

According to the Louisiana Radio Network, Chief Glaser says that White should never have been released. "In Jefferson Parish, he's been arrested over 50 times for simple burglary," said Glaser. "He's got a 40-page criminal history, and he's 24 years old."

Glaser's statement echoes the sentiments Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prater expressed in his now-infamous press conference a couple of weeks before the state was set to release 1,900 prisoners as part of the new justice reform legislation. In the press conference Prater said that the new laws posed a threat to public safety and weren't well considered before the Louisiana Legislature approved them. He cited the case of one prisoner who was to be released from his sentence seven years early. Prater said the man had been arrested 52 times under 34 different aliases and had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The Governor's office responded by saying that the prisoners who were to be released on November 1st were neither violent nor sex offenders. Governor John Bel Edwards campaigned on justice reform. Louisiana has for a long time had the highest incarceration rate per capita in the nation. Edwards said that he wanted the state to at least drop to #2.

In his October 17th press conference Prater said, "Well, let’s face it, somebody’s got to be No. 1 and we’ve got some bad dudes around here. We’ve got some folks that need to be in jail."

Prater and the Governor have since mended fences, but Kenner Police Chief Glaser would appear to be firmly in Prater's corner.